


my love is gone (an impostor wears his face- one I barely recognize)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: this could be good (love is patient, love is kind) [24]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers S.P.D.
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Swap, But hey there's also, Character Study, Communication, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Dubcon Kissing, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, F/M, First Kiss, I'm writing some actual action-ish scenes, Intimacy, Kissing, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Miscommunication, Multi, POV Alternating, Personal Growth, Polyamory, Touch-Starved, Unreliable Narrator, am i projecting?, but only after they work through their shit, holy shit this is angsty, look at me ma, respect of boundaries, there is a lot of cuddling in this series, when you give someone a tragic backstory, you can give them a happy ending, you have to deal with the consequences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-01 13:57:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16766497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: Sky has faith in his Soulmates. They know him, and they’ll recognize that the monster in his body isn’t actually him.(Right?)-Sky's voice is quiet and kind of raw when he asks: “When did you realize that he wasn’t me?”He glances up at the other Rangers and regrets it immediately. Their expressions are ones of guilt, with the exception of Bridge who says honestly, “At about 1400 hours, this afternoon.”And that would be about half an hour before they found him- so half a day with the fake Sky and no one had picked up on the fact that he had been acting differently.“It’s only been two weeks,” Sky says, “And that’s not enough time to learn about a person, I know, but I thought…” His words trail off as his fingers curl around his knees. He’s not used to uncertainty, to feeling unsure in himself and his words, to all of these feelings being in this relationship have caused him. His voice is barely a whisper when he continues with: “I…I hoped…”(Working out a relationship between four people who've known each other for fifteen years and one person who just stumbled into this isn't as easy as you'd believe.)





	my love is gone (an impostor wears his face- one I barely recognize)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tsukino_Akume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsukino_Akume/gifts).



> Title is from "Gone" by Beth Crowley.
> 
> In which I listened to the glee cover of "The Scientist" more than was healthy to write most of this fic, with the song "Take Me As I Am" by F.M Static kicking in when the kissing begins.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry for how dark it gets in the center of the fic. I hadn't meant for it to happen, but it did and so I went with it.

_Come up to meet you_

_Tell you I'm sorry_

_You don't know how lovely you are_

_I had to find you_

_Tell you I need you_

_Tell you I set you apart_

**_-Coldplay,_ The Scientist**

It’s only been a couple of weeks since Sky entered this relationship and things are starting to smooth over, but things are far from perfect. There are a lot of things that Syd, Z, Bridge, and Jack learned about each other over fifteen years that Sky is struggling to catch up and understand. There are inside jokes, references, and understood facts that Sky doesn't know. He sometimes finds himself sitting on a sofa in the middle of his Soulmates and feeling like just as much of an outsider as he did when he was sitting separate from them.

Still, things are going pretty well, considering all of the shit the five of them have had to go through to get to this point. The cuddles and the flirting and the handholding is nice. They haven't yet gotten up to kissing- Sky isn't sure what the proper etiquette for that is, and he isn't sure how to introduce the concept of kissing his Soulmates yet- but he's perfectly willing to wait. He's spent an entire year falling in love with these people- an extra few weeks won't hurt anyone, right?

-

And then Sky finds himself trapped in the body of a criminal.

-

If there’s only one thing that Sky can take comfort in, it’s that he’s 89% sure that Wootox doesn’t know that the team are his Soulmates. The monster won’t try anything inappropriate while in his body, and it'll be one extra detail that will lead the team to realize who he is.

Sky has faith in his Soulmates. They know him, and they’ll recognize that the monster in his body isn’t actually him.

(Right?)

He does, however, have to worry about the physical damage that a monster in his body could do before his team picks up on Wootox's deception. He has to figure out a way to prevent Wootox from using Sky’s body to destroy S.P.D. from the inside out.

And for that, he has to figure out a way to escape this cell.

-

Wootox has switched bodies enough times to know how search a body's peripheral memories for important information, and uncovering the fact that this human body's Soulmates are all of the B-Squad is hitting pay dirt. Wootox can definitely utilize that to deflect suspicion from him being an imposter.

Wootox enters the Pink Ranger and Yellow Ranger’s room, coin firmly tucked into the Blue Ranger’s front jacket pocket. He'd flipped it beforehand, so as to figure out whether to confront the girls- to knock them out or to ply their Soulmate status- and the girls were lucky. He'd flipped heads, leading to this attempt at seduction. Good thing this body's personality did not quite seem the type to care about subtlety or others' feelings, or else it would require more finesse.

"Sky?" The Pink Ranger says, glancing up from scrolling through her tablet, "You need something?"

Wootox curves these strange human lips into what they refer to as a 'smirk.' "Not much, Syd," he says with a wink, human vocal chords vibrating in the same way that the creatures on Sentai 7's do. 

The Pink Ranger arches a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "Then what are you doing in our room in the middle of the day? Shouldn't you be reporting to Cruger after locking up Wootox?" 

"I came to talk to Z," Wootox smiles at the little yellow Ranger.

The yellow girl turns to him. "Yeah, Sky?" She says with eyes that are sharp but unguarded, too trusting of the body he inhabits. 

He smirks, leans in, and presses a kiss to her lips. She goes still for a second before responding in kind, lips pushing back against his in a bit of surprising strength. That's not exactly what Wootox would have expected from the girl, but he seems he has underestimated the strength and attitude of a Power Ranger.

"Sky," she says, tone firm but smile wide, "We're on shift, you know that."

"Of course," Wootox says. He has plenty of time, once they get rid of the pesky human in his body, to ply his will on this girl some more. He looks up past her at the Pink Ranger, who's looking at them with a bit of a warm smile on her face. That's a bit confusing for the alien- he would have expected jealousy rather than approval.

Then the alarms go off, as well as the announcement that a "Prisoner has escaped," and Wootox has a feeling as to what has happened, and the best possible idea as to how to take care of the pesky Blue Ranger problem.

-

“Game’s over!” Sky says as he shoves Wootox in his body up against the wall. “It's time to switch back! I want my own body back.”

But everything goes to shit when he hears his teammates yell and the clatter of footsteps behind him. He turns around to find Jack at the head of the group, yelling “Freeze!”

He stares, disbelieving, as Jack orders him to “Put him down nice and easy.” Sky can see the concern in Jack's eyes, mirrored in all of his other Soulmates’ eyes as well.

Bridge’s voice is uncharacteristically frantic as he orders “Put our soulmate down, and step back.”

Oh no- the one thing Sky didn't want Wootox to know, and Bridge just blurted it out to everybody. Sky understands the fear for Sky’s safety that must have prompted the divulging of such information, he really does, but Bridge can’t have given Wootox a more devastating piece of information than that. Sky’s heart sinks. He knows that this piece of information could possibly allow Wootox to convince Sky’s Soulmates that he is the actual Blue Ranger. This was the one thing Sky was relying on to save his ass, and now it's gone.

He's gotta find a way to get them to listen to him. Maybe if he acts calm, listens to what they say, they'll listen to him. Maybe he can get them to put the translation collar back on him. He lets go of Wootox, but forgets the strength of this criminal's body and so he ends up shoving Wootox a bit. Fuck.

“You okay, Sky?” Jack asks, placing a reassuring hand on Wootox’s shoulder as the monster in Sky’s body scrambles to his feet, and Sky wants to scream.

“Yeah, thanks,” Wootox says, “We’ve gotta take this guy out.” 

If Sky dies in Wootox’s body, then his Soulmates will never know that his body is inhabited by the soul of a monster. Wootox can continue wreaking havoc forever in Sky’s body, and no one will know the difference between them.

As Jack and the rest of the team aim their weapons at Sky, something in Sky's heart shreds. He knows that they think he's a criminal, that he would do something similar in their situation, but that's his _Soulmates_ aiming their weapons at his face, contempt and hatred in some of their eyes, and goddamn but it hurts-

So he turns and runs. He has to get away, has to figure out some sort of way to let his Soulmates know who he really is. He can't let Wootox have the kind of power and authority that living in Sky's body will give him.

-

"Why don't I go search Sector C of Headquarters?" Wootox offers the Red Ranger as the other Rangers all pat him on the back or help dust his shoulders off. He resists the urge to sneer at the human tendency to show such affection and instead assumes an expression halfway between indifference and acceptance, something he'd expect the true Blue Ranger to act like. "You guys can go take Sector B."

"You sure you're good to face Wootox on your own?" The Red Ranger asks, expression concerned.

"You know me," Wootox says, a bit cocky, a bit too full of himself, just as the Blue Ranger acted. "I'm more than capable of getting things done."

Then he takes off, sure that the Ranger team trusts him more than they did before thanks to Blue's actions in his own body. And if he can get to the Blue Ranger before they can, he'll be able to take care of that pesky little problem of his while still maintaining a pretty solid facade with this body.

-

"Why does Sky keep going off on his own?" Bridge asks, watching as Sky disappears around the corner. Sky's been acting somewhat strange since they captured Wootox.

“He does know that he doesn’t have to prove himself to us, right?” Z asks, expression a bit troubled. "Do you think he just kissed me because I pressured him to?"

"Wait," Bridge says, "He _kissed_ you? Our Sky?"

Syd nods, expression satisfied. "On the lips and everything. Saw it myself." She then turns to Z. "And no, you didn't pressure him- he seemed to really like it. He's probably just opening up to us. Maybe he's just splitting up because he's flustered. Do you really think _our_ Sky would handle any kind of affection with grace?"

Z shrugs. "Good point there."

Jack wants to smile at the exchange and the idea that Sky might be opening up to them- because he's been wanting for that to happen for months now, not just the two weeks that they've actually known Sky was their Soulmate. “Something might be up with Sky or he might just be opening up to us,” Jack says, “But whatever the answer, we’ll have to figure out what it is _after_ we catch Wootox.”

“Sky’s our Soulmate,” Syd protests, “Shouldn’t we focus on him?”

“Our duty is to track down the monster and prevent it from causing any more damage,” Jack says, “Whatever’s going on with Sky- it’s not actively hurting anybody, and thus cannot supercede the mission." 

Syd doesn't look quite happy with that response, but she nods. "Alright, then," Jack says, "Let's move out."

-

When Sky's team happens upon him, for a moment he feels a surge of hope. Wootox in his body isn't there with them and if he just gets them to listen to him, he might have a chance of convincing them of his true identity.

But when the first thing his team does is point their blasters at him, Sky realizes that they're not exactly in a place where he can somehow sign-language his way out of this. He can't talk to them, can't explain, and to them he's just the hulking criminal who attacked their Soulmate and he knows how it feels to have a criminal hurt his Soulmate. Sky isn't exactly the most agreeable man in the world when one of his Soulmates are hurt, and he doesn't quite expect them to be.

 _I've gotta get away,_ Sky thinks with a sinking heart as he fires off just a couple of shots using this body's defenses- not enough to kill, not even to maim, but just to knock away their blasters and to stop them from hurting this body for now. _There's no way I can talk my way out of this. There...there might not be any way out of this._

If he can't convince his team of his true identity, then there's only one way of keeping Wootox from destroying S.P.D. and his team. He has to find a way to take Wootox down, even if it means destroying his own body.

Even if it means spending the rest of his life stuck in a containment card, at least S.P.D. (and more importantly, his team, his _Soulmates_ ) will be safe. They'll get a new Blue Ranger, and they can go on defending the world together.

(If Wootox's species had tear ducts, Sky's pretty sure he'd be crying. And he's somewhat thankful that he isn't, because despite his resolve- despite him knowing that this is the only right choice- he thinks if he was able to cry, he might not be able to go through with this.)

So Sky has to go find Wootox and destroy him.

Sky takes one last glance back at his Soulmates as he runs around the corner, jumping down over a railing to the floor below, and he savors the familiar color scheme one last time. He's probably never going to see them again.

-

Bridge bumps into Sky as the team turns the corner again, Jack cursing the fact that they've lost Wootox again. Even Bridge himself is feeling the frustration of losing the criminal this time. He can't believe that Wootox had seemed to know how each of them were going react before they did, had shot at their blasters before they'd gotten a chance to shoot him.

"Have you found Wootox yet?" Sky asks.

"We found him alright," Jack says, irritation clear in his voice, and Bridge knows that that tone connotes only more frustration down the road. "And he managed to escape."

For a moment, similar irritation flickers across Sky's face before disappearing as his expression schools itself back into its usual stern determination. "Well, I didn't find him either, and we still haven't searched the back sectors of Headquarters."

Jack nods. "Good point. Cruger's put Headquarters on lock down so he can't get out, but we need to find him before he does any more damage within the building."

"I'll go to Sector A and the Command Center and make sure the monster hasn't gotten to Commander Cruger, and you guys can cover the rest of the Sectors," Sky says. "That way we can cover more ground."

Jack doesn't seem entirely pleased with the suggestion, but he nods. "Good plan."

The four of them start to move off again, but then Sky says, "Hey Bridge?" and Bridge turns back to him.

"Yes?"

"Mind giving me a kiss for good luck?" Sky asks, smile confident, shoulders squared, and the request sounds a bit strange. After all, the middle of a criminal chase is not exactly the normal place that one has their first kiss.

But Bridge has been wanting to kiss Sky for so long, and for once Sky doesn't seem to mind the breach in protocol- in fact, he's encouraging it- so Bridge doesn't protest.

Sky leans in and presses a kiss to Bridge's lips, and Bridge is lost in the sensation. This is the first time he and Sky have kissed, and Sky's far more confident than Bridge had expected. Bridge tilts his jaw slightly, allowing Sky to take a bit of control of the kiss, and for a moment Bridge savors Sky's lips against his own-

Then the _wrongness_ in Sky's emotions hits his brain like a bitch slap from Syd's Fist of Iron and-

-

Jack hears a muffled grunt and glances back to see Bridge violently shoving Sky away from him. At first Jack's not sure what to do, how to react to the fact that two of his Soulmates are fighting, but then Bridge yanks off his glove and waves a shaking hand in front of Sky. His hand glows, revealing something to him, and a second later Bridge's glove is back on and he has a blaster to Sky's face.

"What the hell, Bridge?" Syd shouts, and Bridge's fingers are shaking around the trigger but he's not flinching.

“You're not Sky,” Bridge says.

“What do you mean, Bridge?” Sky asks, expression hard, and something about Sky seems...off. He's acting like he did when Jack and Z first met him, when he didn't want any 'criminals' on the team.

“That’s an imposter. That’s not his aura, not his color.” Bridge turns to Jack. “Believe me, Jack. He wasn’t acting right earlier and then he...he kissed me and he felt _wrong_ and I had to check. His aura’s just _not right._ It’s far too dark.”

Jack wants to believe Bridge, of course he does, but Bridge has rambled in the past about how some people’s auras darken just because of bad events in their lives. Loathe as Jack is to think about it, this could easily be Sky who had something bad happen with him when he was locking up Wootox yesterday.

“How can we know that he's really not Sky?" Jack asks.

Syd answers Jack’s question for him. “Roll up your sleeves,” she orders Sky, and the Blue Ranger looks at her in confusion. Syd repeats herself, tone harsher: “Roll up your damn sleeves.”

Sky obliges, looking at her in suspicion, and underneath they find-

“His skin is bare,” Syd hisses, and within seconds her blaster is flipped up and aimed at Sky’s- no, Wootox’s- face. Jack and Z Morph immediately, trying to gain firepower on whatever creature has been trying to masquerade as their Soulmate. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

Wootox’s expression shifts to a sneer, and it’s so strange to see such a malicious expression on Sky’s face. Sky is a lot of things- uptight, proud, stubborn, sometimes even a bit of an asshole- but he doesn’t have one evil bone in his body. “This is your teammate’s body- if you kill me, he’s stuck in my form forever.”

Oh no. They just got Sky as their Soulmate- they’re not losing him to some half-bit criminal off the street.

"We're not gonna let you steal his life," Syd says, and Sky's body- Wootox's mind- sneers.

"Watch me," Wootox says.

Jack turns off the microphone on his uniform from broadcasting into public, instead rerouting it to the comm-only system. “We need to find Sky, keep Wootox from doing any more damage, and get the answer as to how to switch their bodies back out of Wootox,” he says to Z. "You and I are going to find Sky, and Bridge and Syd will take care of Wootox."

"You sure we can trust Sky's body and Wootox's mind to just the two of them to take care of?" Z asks, "I don't want them getting hurt."

Jack takes in the sheer hatred in Syd's face and the bitterness in Bridge's, the way Syd's hands are slowly turning to iron around the trigger of her blaster and the stance that Bridge is taking, strong and defiant.

"They'll be fine," he says. "They're compotent, and Syd's fist should take care of things. But if you want to stay, then you can."

Z nods. "Then I'll stay. My duplicates can help keep Sky's body here without too much damage."

"Good point," Jack says, and Z moves forward to join Bridge and Z, giving them each a chance to quickly lower their weapons, Morph, and raise their weapons again.

"Take this guy in," Jack orders, "I'm going to find Sky and bring him back here."

"Got it," Syd says, voice hard as her Fist of Iron.

"You'll never figure out how to switch us back," Wootox taunts in Sky's voice as Jack leaves.

"Watch us," Bridge says, voice matter-of-fact. 

-

Jack soon finds Wootox- or rather Sky in Wootox's body- running down the hallway, and Jack shouts, "Sky?"

The alien turns to face Jack and opens its mouth, but all that emerges from the monster's mouth is a flood of alien words, and for a moment doubt enters Jack's mind.

"Shouldn't you be speaking English?" Jack asks, but then Wootox- or Sky?- gestures to his neck and Jack finds the translator collar gone- an infraction of the rules that the real Sky definitely would have picked up on.

The pit in Jack's stomach is turning into a gaping chasm. Wootox really switched bodies with Sky and they just _didn’t notice_. What kind of Soulmates does that make them?

"I'm sorry," he says, "But do you mind coming with me, Sky? We'll try to get you switched back."

The alien stares at him for a minute, insectoid eyes unblinking, before nodding, and Jack lets out a small sigh of relief. Maybe this nightmare can be over soon.

-

Sky’s body isn’t remotely humanoid, and it’s pretty disconcerting to keep trying to remember that this alien criminal is the Soulmate they all care about so much. The lack of a voice- or at least any sort of intelligible one- is what’s doing in Z's mind the most, she’s pretty sure. Sky’s voice is so distinctive and clear, able to be heard from across a room without effort, and she can’t imagine Sky without a voice to communicate with. She can only imagine what it’s like to be trapped in the head of that alien without a way to get anyone to understand him.

If there is one thing, though, that is keeping Z calm, it’s the way that Sky-in-Wootox’s-body is acting so docile, obeying their every question and responding to anything they ask him to do. Unless this is another elaborate trick, Wootox would not be complying with what they’re asking him to do. He’d be fighting to escape, trying to get away from S.P.D. containment.

They eventually get the translation collar on, and Jack steps forward. “Sky, we’ve gotta do just one last test to make sure it’s you,” Jack says, “And, I’m sorry, but we have to be sure.” The creature nods, and Z feels kinda bad about what she's about to ask. Exposing Sky's secrets to the entire group is something she would never do under normal circumstances- that'd be an invasion of privacy that she could never feel comfortable with.

But she has to know. This monster could, even now, really be Wootox. Maybe Sky's body- currently cuffed and locked up in a holding cell- is actually his own, only under some sort of spell or hypnotic ability they don't know that Wootox has.

“Tell me something no one else would know,” Z demands, stepping forward. “What did Eyesaac’s collar show you?”

When Sky answers, his voice is unmistakable. “I saw myself dying Soulless with all of you guys gathered around my death side, telling me that no one would ever love me."

“It’s him,” Z says, voice choked, and Bridge smiles.

“We knew,” Bridge says, voice as confident as he is in any of his deductions, and at least that is familiar. His relentless faith and optimism is steady in this confusing-as-fuck situation.

“Thank god,” Sky sighs, shoulders slumping, and the action looks so weird on such an armored alien.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any idea how you two were switched in the first place, would you?” Jack asks.

“He slammed his head into mine and forced the switch. I don’t know how he activated it, though."

“Do you think the key is still lying in that brain?” Bridge asks.

"I'm already trying to sort through this brain right now," Sky says curtly. His tone is a bit bitter as he adds: "It's a lot easier to think straight without having to worry about getting blasted."

"Sky, I-" Jack starts, but then stops. And Z knows that it's hard to find the right words to say right now.

"I know," Sky says, tone resigned. "I know, okay?"

For a moment, Z just looks at him, trying to read his expression, but even in human form Sky tends to keep his face a bit closed off. And Z has no idea how to read most alien species nonverbal movements yet, so she definitely can't read his expressions now. Instead, she just ends up leaning against the wall, trying not to hold her breath as they all wait for Sky to answer all of their nightmares.

After what seems like an eternity, but is probably just five minutes, Sky looks up at them. "I think I've got it," Sky says, "If you can just get him to me or vice versa, I can switch the minds back. Then we can lock him away in the containment cards and just be done with all of this."

Jack says, "We'll all head to Wootox's holding cell and have you two switch back," and no one can really summon up the urge to argue.

-

After everyone’s been switched back to normal and Wootox has been locked in a containment card, Sky finds himself constantly being pulled into hugs and touched by the others for the rest of the day. It’s not anything too intrusive- pats on the back, shoulders brushing against each other, hands held when standing still- but it’s constant and frequent and Sky is thankful for what would usually constitute an infraction on the S.P.D. code of conduct. He’s had a hard day, and the touch of his Soulmates against his strangely fragile human skin is a welcome reassurance that his body is still his own.

But then they finally clock out and everyone heads to their rooms to change into their pajamas before heading to Bridge and Sky's room (because familiarity will do a lot to deal with the cognitive dissonance Sky is experiencing back in his own body). Sky ends up sitting cross-legged on his own bed. Sky and Syd sit on Bridge's, while Bridge and Jack are on the floor, where pillows and blankets from the girls' room and Jack's room have been deposited to form a nest/fort of sorts.

And once everyone's gotten set up, an awkward silence descends on the group that Sky doesn't really know how to breach properly. How do you ask questions that you're scared to have answered?

“Did you…?” Sky starts, and then stops. He doesn't know how to finish his question.

“Did we what?” Z asks, and Sky swallows. He's not sure how to put his doubts into words, to ask a question that has almost no good answer.

Sky's voice is quiet and kind of raw when he asks: “When did you realize that he wasn’t me?”

He glances up at the other Rangers and regrets it immediately. Their expressions are ones of guilt, with the exception of Bridge who says honestly, “At about 1400 hours, this afternoon.”

And that would be about half an hour before they found him- so half a day with the fake Sky and no one had picked up on the fact that he had been acting differently.

“It’s only been two weeks,” Sky says, “And that’s not enough time to learn about a person, I know, but I thought…” His words trail off as his fingers curl around his knees. He’s not used to uncertainty, to feeling unsure in himself and his words, to all of these feelings being in this relationship have caused him. His voice is barely a whisper when he continues with: “I…I hoped…”

The silence sits for a few moments, tense as Prataxian silk, before anyone finds the nerve to speak.

“Bridge and I’ve known you for six years,” Syd says, and Sky looks up at her. She looks just the same as she always does, bright and blonde and pink. So bright and bubbly yet so damn dangerous, like cotton candy disguising the barrel of a blaster. Sky wonders if what she’s going to say is going to hurt like getting her fist of iron to the heart. “And Z and Jack have known you for one, and we fucked up today, I know. And I'm sorry. And I wish this hadn’t happened to you, I really do, but we were all running on adrenaline and chasing down a criminal and Wootox kept splitting up from the group, so we didn’t have much face-to-face interaction with him, and what we did have was..." She looks at Z, whose expression is a little bit broken.

"He kissed me, and we thought you were feeling more comfortable around us,” Z says, and her expression is apologetic but her words hurt so much, threatening to tear a canyon in his heart. “Opening up to us, you know.”

Sky hates the fact that this body- but not his mind, not his Soul, just an alien who sought to hurt as many people as possible- kissed Z, took advantage of assumptions that made sense to her.

He also hates the fact that he’s been so awkward in this relationship that a simple kiss would cause them to think that he’s ‘opening up’ to them. He’d been trying to take it slow, to not force the situation, but apparently that had been what his Soulmates had wanted.

"And I knew he wasn't you when he kissed _me_ ," Bridge adds, and Sky looks at him, hope rising in his heart. Maybe it's not his fault entirely, maybe he has been more open than he thought- "I mean, at first I thought he was you," Bridge then corrects himself, and Sky's heart falls again. "But his aura was off when he touched me, so that's how we figured out that he wasn't you."

There is no right answer to this situation, Sky knows. There are no right answers, no ways that he can respond that will guarantee an easy solution.

Relationships are hard. He knew that before the Soulmarks were even revealed, knew from his earlier crush on Dru, from his familial relationship with his mother, which never really recovered after his father's death, and even from his friendship with his teammates. They had a hard time learning to trust each other, figuring out how to get along and work together and turn their trust issues and egos and stubbornness into strengths instead of weaknesses.

Sky had false- or at least, idealistic- expectations for how easily this relationship would go. He'd thought the fact that they were Soulmates would pave the way, would make stumbling a thing of the past. But he's now recognizing that the title of 'Soulmate' doesn't make things easy- it just recognizes a different sort of relationship, one that has to be worked for as much as any other.

“I know I’ve gotta get better at the whole affection thing,” Sky admits. "About opening up to you guys. I just..." It's hard to admit to his weaknesses. He's spent the last few years training himself to keep things in, to keep himself from being vulnerable. It's a thought process that can't be overturned in two weeks, can't be forced open by one trip to the infirmary and the appearance of Soulmarks. 

But in order to keep this relationship working, he has to learn to give in at least somewhat. "You four have years of intimacy built up, and I don't know where to begin." The words stumble their way out of his mouth. "I mean...I've never-I've never kissed anyone before."

"Oh," Z says, and when he glances at her there's a measure of shock in her expression. "Really?"

Sky nods. "I mean, who exactly did I have to kiss?"

He catches Syd and Z exchanging a glance, as if noting something to speak about later, but he's distracted by a different Soulmate.

“Sky,” Bridge says, and Sky looks down at him sitting on a pile of pillow on the floor. Bridge has a strange but determined look on his face. “Can I kiss you?”

Sky nods- because he’s wanted this for a very long time, and he’d been waiting for the right moment, but the wrong moment has come and gone and all he wants now is to erase the memories that this body holds but his mind doesn't.

Bridge stands up from his spot on the floor, steps toward Sky, leans in, and presses a comforting kiss to Sky’s lips. Sky feels incredibly fragile, almost like he’ll break apart. Bridge’s lips taste like butter- go figure, based on the pile of toast sitting on the table by his bed- and are so soft beneath Sky’s mouth.

Bridge obviously has more practice with this than Sky does- he's been kissing Syd for five years now- but he doesn't make Sky feel inadequate. Instead, he just draws Sky in with a gentle hand against the cheek, guiding Sky's lips against his own.

“There,” Bridge says, leaning back after a few moments with a twinkle in his eye. “That’ll be our first kiss. Well, not our first kiss, technically speaking, but your and my first kiss, because this is your body and your mind and not just your body and someone else’s mind.”

And Sky can’t help but smile at Bridge’s familiar rambling, at how beautiful his Soulmate is. Bridge is strange in a kind sort of way, full of bright smiles and endearing quirks and rambling words. There is so much about him that Sky can love, just like the rest of his Soulmates.

“Bridge,” Sky says, “You mind if I kiss you again?”

Bridge grins. “Of course not,” he says, and Sky leans back in to kiss Bridge again. The second time around is just as enjoyable as the first one, especially since Sky now has some idea of what to do.

When they break apart, Z stands up from Bridge's bed. "My turn!" She says with a grin, and Bridge darts down to the floor as Z slips in front of Sky. She places her hands on his shoulders, leans in, and-

Z's a bit more forceful than Bridge, her kiss involving her taking a bit more control than Bridge did and her lips tasting like cherry lipgloss rather than butter, but Sky loves it in its own way. Z herself is a different person than Bridge, but no less lovely and beautiful than he is. Sky loves her and her selflessness and her drive to be more just as much as he loves Bridge's rambling logic and eternal faith.

When Z pulls back with a smile, Sky looks around at the other Rangers- Syd, who is no longer a bullet but instead just a girl, smiling at him, and Jack, who looks rather proud of everything that's happening.

"I'll grab a kiss later," Jack says with a grin, "But for now, cuddle pile?"

Sky nods, less hesitant than he has been over the past couple of weeks. Not everything has been resolved, but a whole lot of things are better than they were.

They'll work out the rest in the morning, over the next few weeks, for the rest of their lives. Sky doesn't think it'll ever be easy, but it'll definitely be worth it.

Sky moves onto the ground and finds himself pulled to the center of the floor, where he lays down in the middle of the blankets. His Soulmates pile in around him, Syd leaning over and pressing a quick kiss to his forehead as she moves past him to find her place in the tangle of bodies on the ground. "I love you, you dumbass," she says, fondness thick in her tone.

By the end of everyone situating themselves, Sky finds himself with Bridge tucked into one side, Bridge's hair against his shoulder blade, Syd's legs laying on top of his at a perpendicular angle, Jack's head on his stomach, and Z's fingers entwined with his. They are a mess of angles and curves, fabric and skin layered on top of each other, and Sky wouldn't have it any other way.

The warm weight of so many people is welcome. Sky has dreamed of such casual intimacy his entire life, but over the past couple of weeks he's carefully kept himself at the edges of the cuddle pile, unsure of his place. Now, though, he is at the center, surrounded by the people he loves and who love him back.

"I can see why you guys love doing this," Sky says, and he feels Z squeeze his hand reassuringly.

"It's only better with you," Jack says, and the world seems a bit brighter.

_Take me as I am_

_'Cause I'm growing_

_But it's so hard to tell_

_When I'm not used to this, so_

_Let the sound of my heart ring out_

_These hands aren't holding me down_

_Never again will I be without_

**_-F.M. Static,_ Take Me As I Am**

**Author's Note:**

> So, did I stab you guys in the heart or what? (Though least I gave you bandages this time, especially after the last two fics, right?)
> 
> Also bam, NaNoWriMo word count hit- entirely with Power Rangers fic. Oops, I guess?
> 
> Just kidding- I have no regrets!


End file.
